BRICS Global Business and Innovation
From September 14th – 15th, 2017, the first International BRICS Global Business and Innovation Conference took place at HSE in St. Petersburg. Scholars from all over the world came together to discuss the most pressing issues of global business and innovation in the context of BRICS as a factor of competition and sustainable development in era of growing uncertainty.
The researchers spoke on the essential problems of international business and innovation development in BRICS countries, emphasizing the key aspects of international economic development and growth in BRICS, the prospects of international business development, as well as the BRICS countries’ role as innovation drivers.
The global economy growth largely depends on the growth of BRICS economics. In particular, according to Justin Yifu Lin, one of the most renowned Chinese economists and former chief economist and the World Bank (2008-2012), in the near future China will annually add as much as 30% to global economic growth and will create favourable opportunities not only for Chinese people, but for other countries as well. He also emphasized that to effectively implement innovation in BRICS, certain institutional developments need to be made.
Ravi Ramamurti, Distinguished Professor of International Business and Strategy at Northeastern University D'Amore-McKim School of Business (Boston), stressed the importance of effective business-to-government relations and compared the situations when powerful governmental participation in economic regulation either helps facilitate or hinder business development. He mentioned China as a more successful example of that, and India as a less successful one. This is an important factor in why even the U.S and Western Europe are jealous of China’s success in wireless communication and online trade.
According to Slavo Radosevic, Professor of Industry and Innovation Studies at the University College London (UCL) School of Slavonic and East European Studies, when we talk about BRICS businesses today, it is more correct to speak not in terms of industries, which are a matter of statistics, but in terms of technologies and areas for their application. He also suggests using the same approach to analyze Russia’s prospective economic development areas.
Speaking about prospects for the next five years, Prof. Igor Filatotchev from King's Business School, King's College London, assumed that the difference in economic levels of BRICS countries will continue to grow. China will retain the status of the global workshop and a driving force of economic development. Brazil is experiencing a harsh economic and political crisis, which will have consequences. India is becoming a leader in terms of population, and showing a growing gap between the richest and the poorest. Russia is continuing to have sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European countries. This means that the gap between BRICS countries will continue to grow, which leads Igor Filatotchev to the question of whether further association of these countries as part of BRICS makes sense.
The organizers plan to make the International BRICS Global Business and Innovation Conference an annual event that brings together leading experts in BRICS economic development to discuss the impact of the internal processes in these countries on global economic growth.